| 1 | House Memorial |
| 2 | A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging |
| 3 | Congress to make forms for the United States Decennial |
| 4 | Census of 2010 available in the Creole language for the |
| 5 | Haitian population of Florida. |
| 6 |
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| 7 | WHEREAS, results from the United States Decennial Census of |
| 8 | 2000 show that there were 419,317 foreign-born persons from |
| 9 | Haiti in the United States when the census was taken, and |
| 10 | WHEREAS, the state with the largest population of foreign- |
| 11 | born persons from Haiti in 2000 was Florida with 182,224, which |
| 12 | represented 6.8 percent of Florida's total foreign-born |
| 13 | population of 2.7 million, and |
| 14 | WHEREAS, in conducting the federal decennial statewide |
| 15 | census in 2000, the United States Census Bureau used a variety |
| 16 | of methods to communicate with people who could not speak |
| 17 | English, and |
| 18 | WHEREAS, households that received the census form in the |
| 19 | mail had the option of requesting the form in Spanish, Chinese, |
| 20 | Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, and |
| 21 | WHEREAS, individuals who believed that they were not |
| 22 | included on a form or did not receive a form could use the "Be |
| 23 | Counted" questionnaires that were available in public areas and |
| 24 | printed in English, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, |
| 25 | and |
| 26 | WHEREAS, the Census Bureau also published a short-form and |
| 27 | a long-form language assistance guide in 49 different languages, |
| 28 | one of which was Creole, to assist respondents, and |
| 29 | WHEREAS, however, given the considerable size of Florida's |
| 30 | Haitian population, in the interest of equity and obtaining the |
| 31 | most accurate information possible from the next federal |
| 32 | decennial statewide census, the United States Census Bureau |
| 33 | should make forms for the United States Decennial Census of 2010 |
| 34 | more accessible to the Haitian population of Florida by making |
| 35 | the census forms available in the Creole language, and |
| 36 | WHEREAS, in addition, the census forms for the United |
| 37 | States Decennial Census of 2010 should be prepared in a manner |
| 38 | that will allow a respondent to indicate whether he or she is a |
| 39 | Haitian national or of Haitian descent, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 40 |
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| 41 | Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 42 |
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| 43 | That the Congress of the United States is urged to require |
| 44 | the United States Census Bureau to make census forms for the |
| 45 | United States Decennial Census of 2010 available in the Creole |
| 46 | language to provide for optimal accessibility by the Haitian |
| 47 | population of Florida and to prepare the census forms in a |
| 48 | manner that will allow a respondent to indicate whether he or |
| 49 | she is a Haitian national or of Haitian descent. |
| 50 | BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be |
| 51 | dispatched to the President of the United States, to the |
| 52 | President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the |
| 53 | United States House of Representatives, and to each member of |
| 54 | the Florida delegation to the United States Congress. |